This is a simple white sauce that adds a creamy texture to any dish that incorporates it. I appreciate the fact that I can control the amount of fat and lactose that goes into this without compromising richness. For example, lactose free skim milk has always worked exceptionally well for me. If you find that your sauce is not thickening, even when it starts bubbling, add a teaspoon of flour at a time. However, you should not need more than 3 tablespoons. Be patient and diligent with your whisking: it will work out any lumps and keep the sauce from burning.
The sauce can be made ahead if necessary and refrigerated for up to a couple of days.
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp flour
1½ cup milk
½ tsp salt
pepper, to taste
- Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a sauce pan at Low heat.
- Just as the butter begins to bubble and foam, add the flour.
- Working quickly with a whisk, blend the butter and flour until it becomes a paste. Do not allow the paste to burn; begin adding milk gradually to the pan and whisk the mixture together. Increase the heat to Medium-High and keep whisking until the mixture becomes smooth; do not walk away. Continue until the sauce thickens to the consistency of heavy cream or yogurt. Depending on your stove, this may take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes.
- Just before the sauce starts to boil, add salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.
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2 comments:
Can you suggest a non-wheat flour or non-gluten flour that I can use to make the bechamel sauce? I know the flavour will be different, but I can deal with that.
I can use brown rice pasta instead of regular wheat based pasta to avoid any gluten that way and I like the idea of using a bechamel instead of cheese for my lactose issue, but the flour in the sauce negates some of the benefit I get from avoiding cheese if I'm replacing it by something else that I can't digest.
According to some gluten-free recipe sites, cornflour is a suitable substitute for wheat-based flour in Bechamel Sauce. The proportion of cornflour may vary a bit, but Bechamel is one of those things that you make by look & feel so it calls for adjustments anyway. Conditions like the type of milk you use, your choice of margarine or butter, etc. also affect the sauce.
They keys are to (1) add just enough dry ingredient to the fat to get a smooth paste (the "roux"), (2) keep whisking to prevent clumping and burning, (3) use low heat and be patient, and (4) if whatever dairy you add to the roux doesn't start thickening after several minutes, just whisk in another spoonful of flour.
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